


Lacking Direction

by DefaltManifesto



Category: Parks and Recreation, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:56:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1135154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of taking an internship at Pawnee, April accepts one in Night Vale. It could be worse. </p><p>A/N: You don't really need to know anything about either series to read it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lacking Direction

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea stuck in my head and just had to write it. I hope you guys like it.

"This is teenage rebellion isn't it?"

"Yeah sure," April said, pulling out another piece of gum and popping it in her mouth. "Just let me go, it's not a big deal. It's just a stupid internship."

"It's Night Vale! There's an epidemic of crazy people! Do you want to go crazy April?"

April stared up at her father and raised an eyebrow, smacking her gum as loud as she could. A few minutes passed and then she headed upstairs to pack her bags for Night Vale. Being an intern there was bound to be more interesting than boring old Pawnee.

 

-.-

 

Cecil was sort of terrifying and everything April hated in one person. Well, almost. His constantly moving tattoos were kind of cool and the third eye was pretty awesome, but the guy was sickeningly cheery. And he insisted on 'early morning bonding hugs', usually ambushing her before she could reach the coffee.

There was a board on the wall above the coffeepot used as a record keeper for the survival rate of the interns. Four days in and she had beaten the record. Even if Cecil was so sweet it made her teeth ache, she couldn't deny that the job was fun in the heart-pounding, running for her life sort of way.

"April! Four days! We should celebrate!" Cecil said, smiling so bright it actually made April wince. She needed to know what special Night Vale type of toothpaste he used. It would certainly help her disarm her enemies.

April glowered up at him from the rickety table as he poured his own coffee. "No."

Cecil was so stunned he ended up pouring coffee on his hand. His desperate and sad puppy eyes succeeded in guilting her though, so she bandaged his hand before escaping to the men's bathroom before he could ask her to do something else.

There was a cat floating beside the sink with three eyes. April sighed and then reached out to pet his head. She'd seen weirder.

 

-.-

 

"April! I think I'm in love!"

"Ew."

 

-.-

 

"Can I join the Boy Scouts?"

April chewed, loud and obnoxious, on a wad of gum as she leaned over Cecil's shoulder. One of his tentacle tattoos slid up his neck and blinked an eye at her in what she assumed was an irritated manner. She stuck her tongue out at it.

"Cecil stop staring at Carlos' picture and answer me, I want to join the Boy Scouts and become a Dreadnaught Scout." She popped her gum near his ear.

Cecil yelped, hands flailing forward to cover Carlos' picture. "I have done no such thing!"

"Joined Boy Scouts or stared longingly at Carlos' picture?"

Cecil glared at her with two brown eyes and a purple one that was still more cool than it was scary. "Either, thank you very much."

"Okay, whatever, will the stupid government let me join or not?"

"I don't know." An enthusiastic grin broke out over Cecil's face. "You should try, see what happens. Then, if the government allows it, we'll report on it!"

April leaned back. "Nnnn, yeah never mind it sounds totally lame."

 

-.-

 

"Schrödinger, you're the only one who understands me."

Schrödinger meowed.

Cecil opened the bathroom door, pausing when he saw April perched on the counter beside the floating cat.

"April, this is the men's bathroom. Also his name is Khoshekh, not Schrödinger."

"This is the only place I can meet my with my one true love, who's name is totally Schrödinger," April said. She hopped off the sink and approached Cecil. "You wouldn't break up true love, would you Cecil?"

"Well-"

She grabbed him by his obnoxious tie-dye tie and yanked him close. "True love, man! True love!"

"I guess it's fine?"

"Good. Schrödinger, I'll return soon my love."

 

-.-

 

While shopping for groceries, April ran into the Apache Tracker. She punched him. Cecil was proud.

 

-.-

 

When the Glow Cloud came, April admitted to herself, begrudgingly, that she was legitimately afraid. Seeing Cecil, her one steady if slightly crazy rock in the godforsaken town, become possessed for a good seven and a half minutes was rough.

After, he asked her what happened, a nervous grin on his stupid face. The grin she had come to realize meant he was scared and didn't know how to show it. So, she'd hugged him and didn't let him go until the broadcast was over. Things changed after that. Cecil didn't notice.

 

-.-

 

"You should investigate the-"

"No."

 

-.-

 

"What's the chance of the Station Manager eating Schrödinger?" April pushed Cecil's elbow away from her mouth as he squeezed in next to her under the desk.

"The chances of them eating  _Khoshekh_  is not too high. I think they prefer human flesh."

"Oh so just us then."

Cecil was dead serious when he met her eyes. The third one was closed. "No. Just you."

"Oh." April thunked her head back against the desk. "Oh."

 

-.-

 

April was lonely. Schrödinger really was the only one who understood her. Also Carlos was a total dweeb and he and Cecil would totally make cute babies.

 

-.-

 

April's house disappeared. Everyone seemed pretty sure it had been taken hostage by the Underground City. April didn't really care. She moved in with Cecil.

She cooked for his first date with Carlos. She took pictures of them cuddling on the couch from the kitchen and sent them to Ben and Derek. They asked if they could join in and added a winky face. April started to question why she still bothered with them.

 

-.-

 

April stubbed her toe on the desk and called it a tentacle-sucking dog-fucker in Spanish. Cecil stared at with her alarm and asked her if that was something she'd actually encountered before in rapid-fire Spanish. From then on, if they were at Cecil's home, they would speak in Spanish.

She started to feel a little less lonely.

 

-.-

 

When she broke up with Ben and Derek, she spent the night in the men's bathroom curled up on the counter near Schrödinger, pretending she wasn't crying about it. Cecil and Carlos brought her a sleeping bag and dinner. For once, Cecil even called the cat Schrödinger.

 

-.-

 

"When are you coming home?"

"I don't know." April sat down beside a tarantula, cradling her cellphone between her shoulder and her ear as she let it crawl on her arm. She wondered if it was an orphan. "I think I might stay.

"April that is unacceptable. There is no future for you there!"

"Dad, you'd say that about anything."

April hung up the phone and brought the tarantula up to eye level. "I'm adopting you. And I'm naming you Pedro. You aren't alone anymore sweetie."

 

-.-

 

April's home rematerialized. She stayed with Cecil.

 

-.-

 

"One full year, it really is amazing," Cecil said with a happy sigh, writing 364 days beside her name on the board. "Your internship is up tomorrow. You're free to go, my dutiful worker."

April looked up at him through her bangs that were getting too long. "I think I'll stay. If you'll have me."

Cecil's smile warmed her heart, not that she'd ever tell him that.

 

-.-

 

Night Vale was weird, but it wasn't anything more than April Ludgate could handle.


End file.
